Gloo MLBB Guide: He Rides You Home (Season 42)

Why he's feared (and loved)

Lord pit, minute fifteen. The enemy marksman is playing clean — behind his tank, full health, Flicker up. Then the fifth Sticky stack blooms on his health bar, and a swamp climbs onto his back. That's Grab, Grab. For the next nine seconds, every shot my team fires lands on *him* twice: once as damage, once as the 80% Gloo forwards from his own hide to his host. His team can't help — shooting the blob is shooting their own carry. So he runs home, carrying the enemy tank into his own formation.

That is Gloo, the Swamp Spirits — not one creature but a colony, a hivemind from the Shadow Swamp whose idea of friendship is latching on and never letting go (Fandom's story: the Moniyan soldier "possessed" and puppeted through the forest was, per the report, just being played with). Feared, because his ultimate doesn't win a fight — it *relocates* one, turning your carry into his taxi and your focus fire into friendly fire. Loved, because no tank is this rude: he splits into a puddle of children, drags you across his landmines, and rides you home.

Season 42 viability: the honest read

Patch paperwork first. Patch 2.2.16 (16 September 2026): Gloo has no change. Confirmed two ways: absent from the verified adjustment list (Masha/Bruno revamps + 22 adjustments), and blooing's complete roundup — read end to end — never mentions him. Patch 2.2.16a (14 Oct 2026): the documented list (Kalea buff; Aulus, Hirara, Eudora, Rafaela nerfs) has no Gloo, so any claimed tweak stays [UNCONFIRMED] — including Advanced Server notes trimming his Skill 1 explosion, test-server only and not matching the live page. His last documented live change is Season 41's Patch 2.1.88 nerf (VCGamers' recap lists him among the nerfed; MLBBDex agrees) — and the kit is the 1.9.68 revamp (GosuGamers), which folded the old Split, Split ult into Skill 2. Guides still teaching "Pass, Pass" teach a ghost.

The trackers, dated (community snapshots): - MLBBHub (Season 42, patch 2.2.16a, all ranks, last 7 days; checked 21 Oct 2026): S tier — 54.64% WR, 0.74% pick (the remaining Tank queue's highest), 38.81% ban. - MLBBDex (tier list updated 19 Oct 2026, patch 2.2.16): S+ tier in Roam and EXP — 54.7% WR, 0.8% pick, 38.9% ban; "banned about every other game and winning when it passes," Faramis his clearest measured answer. - MLBB.io (data updated 20 Oct 2026): S tier (up from A, "Contested") — 54.6% WR, 0.7% pick; its insights page has him at ~52% in EXP in Mythical Glory+, "a safe lock" there. - MLCounter (page updated Aug 2026): prints 63.63% and an A — stale against three live desks near 54.6%, its skill table still on the retired kit. Noted, not averaged in; its matchup table below is direction only.

The chorus: 54.6–54.7% win rate everywhere current — and a ~39% ban rate, the loudest number on the page. Drafts aren't banning a tank; they're banning a mechanic. Sentiment: no fresh r/MobileLegendsGame threads surfaced — tracker/creator material only, and the creator read (esports.gg) is honest: the attach punishes teams who don't know the transfer rule, because "most players would unintentionally kill their allies." My tier verdict: S-. The paperwork is S or better on every live desk; the minus is availability and shape — a 39% ban means you rarely get him, a 0.74% pick means the numbers are specialist-built, and his hardest counter (Faramis) is a draft veto, not a skill matchup.

The full kit: what every button does

All mechanics from the MLBB Fandom hero page, checked 21 October 2026. Base HP 2819→6179, Mana 500→1900, Physical Attack 120→210, Physical Defense 18→65, Magic Defense 15→50, Movement Speed 245. Official ratings (via MLBB.io): Offense 3, Durability 10, Control 10, Difficulty 7 — a wall that grabs back. Specialty: Regen/Control. - Passive — Stick, Stick: Every time Gloo's skills hit an enemy, they gain a Sticky stack: −4% Movement Speed for 6 seconds, up to 5 stacks (−20% at full). Each stack also reduces that enemy's damage dealt to Gloo by 4% — a fully stacked target hits him at 80% while barely walking. This passive is the whole hero: stacks are control, defense and the ult's unlock key in one. - Skill 1 — Slam, Slam: Gloo slams the ground for 80 (+80% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage and leaves a Goo at the end of the slam. After 3 seconds the Goo explodes for 300–450 (+12% Extra HP) Magic Damage, immobilizing nearby enemies for 1s. If Gloo touches the Goo first, it explodes immediately, resets Slam's cooldown, and heals him 2.5–5% of Max HP if the blast hits an enemy — doubled vs a hero. Cooldown 10.0→6.0s. A landmine, a heal and a cooldown engine in one. - Skill 2 — Spread, Spread: Gloo splits into Goos in a fan, dealing 100–200 (+80% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage, immobilizing for 0.5s. While split (4s) he gains +10% Movement Speed and deals 80 (+15% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage every 0.25s to enemies he touches. If Spread hits a Goo, he charges over to merge with it, dragging every enemy in his path along. Cooldown 12.0→10.0s. The old Split, Split, demoted to a basic skill — and better here. - Ultimate — Grab, Grab: Unlocked only when an enemy hero carries full Sticky stacks (5). Gloo attaches to that hero for up to 9 seconds, instantly recovering 25–30% of his Max HP. While attached, his Basic Attacks deal 30–90 (+50% Total Magic Power) (+6% Extra HP) Magic Damage, and he transfers 80% of the damage he receives to the host (turret damage excluded). If the host dies attached, the cooldown drops to 5 seconds. Flat 50s cooldown. Fandom's notes: he stays on even if the host turns untargetable; spells and items work while riding, but mobility ones (Flicker, Arrival, Recall) are disabled; Nana's Molina's Gift knocks him off; a host Immortality trigger detaches him with reduced cooldown.

Skill priority, my way: ultimate at 4/8/12, Slam, Slam first (explosion, heal and cooldown all scale — his lane trade and sustain), Spread, Spread second.

Combos

• "The Taxi Ride" (the signature): stack Sticky to 5 on the carry — basics don't count, *skills* do — then Grab, Grab. While riding, keep casting: Slam under the host, Spread across his team. Your job is to be shot at; your team's job is to shoot the host. Host dies, your ult is back in 5 seconds.
• "The Puddle Drag": Slam, Slam drops a Goo beside the target → Spread, Spread clips the Goo → the merge-charge drags everyone in the path *into* the puddle as it detonates: immobilize on immobilize, and the touch resets Slam for an encore.
• "The Blanket" (teamfight opener): Spread, Spread through the clump first — fan damage, 0.5s immobilize, a Sticky stack and four seconds of contact damage on everyone touched — then Slam the carry. When the split ends, somebody is at five stacks and the Grab light is on.

Rotation and map control

Two jobs, both live. Every tracker files him Roam and EXP; MLBB.io's insights put him at ~52% in Mythical Glory+ EXP, and his level-1 Slam trade (80 flat + a puddle that heals and resets the skill) makes him a rude laner. As roam, he's a gank that starts with a tax: arrive, blanket the lane, and the target's escape is 20% slower before the Grab exists.

The mid game is stack discipline. Sticky lasts 6 seconds and only skill hits refresh it — a Gloo wandering between fights arrives at every skirmish at zero stacks and zero threat. Keep touching somebody. At objectives, your puddle is a zoning sign: drop Goos on the pit entrance and the retreat path, and let the enemy choose between the explosion and your team.

Attachment geometry is the real skill. Ride the *carry*, not the tank: a tank host soaks the transfer and laughs; a carry host melts under it and — the point — *runs*, carrying you into his own backline, where your Slam and Spread land on everyone who came to save him. The risk runs the other way: a smart host walks you under his turret or into his whole team, turret damage doesn't transfer, and when the ride ends you're alone in the worst postcode on the map. Read his feet, not his health bar.

Best build, emblem, and battle spell (Season 42)

The locked spine — Fandom's guide sets and LDShop's build land on the same sentence: Tough Boots → Cursed Helmet → Oracle → Dominance Ice → Guardian Helmet → Immortality. Cursed Helmet pays his wave-clear and burns while he's hugging people; Oracle multiplies every heal his kit prints (Slam detonations, the Grab's 25–30% refund); Dominance Ice taxes attack speed and healing around him. Flex: Radiant Armor or Athena's Shield vs heavy magic, Antique Cuirass vs physical divers, Glowing Wand + Thunder Belt for the sustained-DPS school (Fandom's third set). Emblem — a tracked-vs-guide split, honestly: MLBB.io's tracked builds run Common in 7 of 10 (Agility / Wilderness Blessing / Brave Smite); Fandom's guide recommends Tank or Support. My call: Common for roam, Tank for EXP. Battle spell — the same split. Flameshot leads tracked builds at 78% (MLBB.io) — a finisher and knockback that still works while attached, since Fandom confirms non-mobility spells stay live during Grab. Flicker is the guide school's pick (Fandom guide; LDShop; DuniaGames) for Spread-drag angles — but disabled *while attached*, so it buys entrances, not exits.

How to counter him

Two live desks agree on the headline: Faramis is the answer — MLBBDex calls him "by far his clearest answer according to the measurements," and MLBB.io's counter page lists the same trio: Faramis, Vexana, Moskov. The mage logic is structural (MLCounter): AoE magic deletes a hero whose Skill 2 turns him into twelve small targets, and Faramis adds a second life that outlasts the attach. MLCounter's matchup table (older dataset — direction, not gospel): Gloo wins just 41% vs Yu Zhong (345 games), 42% vs Dyrroth (312), 45% vs Vexana (232), 47% vs Wanwan (435), 48% vs Faramis (367). VCGamers' EXP list adds the spell-vamp school — Balmond, Alpha, Ruby — whose AoE skills *heal off his split Goos*: his blanket becomes their buffet. - Items: anti-heal first — Sea Halberd, Glowing Wand, Dominance Ice (MLCounter; blooing agrees) — because his durability is half refund. Then %HP damage — Demon Hunter Sword, Wishing Lantern (MLCounter) — to make 6,179 HP a liability. MLBB.io adds Athena's Shield, Tough Boots. - Play patterns: Purify removes Sticky stacks (MLCounter) — cleanse before five and the Grab never unlocks. Never stand on the puddle; never clump for the Spread fan. And the golden rule, from MLCounter's tips: do not attack Gloo while he is attached to your teammate — 80% of your damage forwards to your own carry. Walk away, let the ride expire, then collect a tank in the open.

Who he counters is the mirror image: heroes who must stand near him and can't shed stacks. MLBB.io lists Aamon, Jawhead, Johnson as his food; MLCounter has him beating Barats 58% (376 games), Yve 57% (567), Popol and Kupa 56% (343). Immobile carries are his favourite taxis.

Mistakes everyone makes

• "The Tank Taxi": Grabbing the first hero at five stacks — usually the enemy tank, who wanted to be in your team anyway. The transfer needs a host whose team *fears* focus fire. Wait for the carry.
• "The Solo Ride": Attaching with no teammate in range. Nine seconds of forwarding 80% of nothing is a swamp napping; the Grab is a team sentence or a screensaver.
• "The Orphan Puddle": Slamming Goos where nobody will ever step — and never walking over your own puddle. The touch-detonation is his heal *and* his cooldown reset; ignoring his Goos is playing with one skill fewer.
• "The Buffet Split": Spreading for poke into Balmond, Alpha, Vexana or Faramis. Against AoE and spell-vamp, split form isn't pressure — it's catering.
• "The One-Way Ticket": Riding a retreating host all the way home because the transfer felt good. The ride ends. Then it's you, alone, at their inner turret, with a 50s cooldown and no Flicker — mobility spells are disabled while attached (Fandom), so the exit problem is yours from the moment you latch.

FAQ

• Can Purify stop Grab, Grab? It stops the *setup*: Purify removes Sticky stacks (MLCounter), so cleansed before five stacks, the ult never unlocks. Once latched, Fandom's documented exits are narrow: the host dying (his cooldown drops to 5s), Nana's Molina's Gift, or the host's Immortality triggering — and he stays on through untargetability.
• Why is he banned ~39% of games with a 0.74% pick rate? Because the ban isn't for his win rate — it's for the mechanic. A 9-second attach that turns your carry into a damage-forwarding taxi has no item answer, so drafts delete it (MLBBDex: "banned about every other game").
• Roam or EXP Lane? Both, per every tracker. EXP holds his Mythical Glory numbers (MLBB.io: ~52%, "a safe lock"); roam is where the 39% ban fear lives. Pick by draft: roam into immobile carries, EXP into melee laners he stacks for free.
• Is Split, Split gone? As an ultimate, yes — the 1.9.68 revamp folded the split into Skill 2 (Spread, Spread) and made Grab, Grab the standalone ultimate. "Pass, Pass" died with it. Guides using either name are pre-revamp.
• What actually kills him? Anti-heal (Sea Halberd, Glowing Wand, Dominance Ice), %HP damage (Demon Hunter Sword, Wishing Lantern), AoE mages (Faramis, Vexana), spell-vamp fighters healing off his split (Balmond, Alpha, Ruby) — and discipline: don't shoot the host, don't stand on the puddle, cleanse the stacks.

Final verdict

Gloo in Season 42 is the strongest tank most players will never get to play: 54.6–54.7% win rates and S-letters on every desk that refreshes, wrapped in a 39% ban rate that keeps him a rumour in most drafts. When he gets through, he's a teamfight relocation service — stack, latch, and watch the enemy choose between shooting their own carry and ignoring the swamp draining theirs. Not a beginner's tank despite the cute design: stack timing, puddle discipline and host selection are three skill checks in one blob.

Play him if: your draft needs a roam or EXP tank who deletes one carry's positioning, the enemy backline is immobile or Purify-poor, and you'll ride carries — not tanks — with teammates in range to cash the transfer.

Skip him if: the enemy locks Faramis or Vexana, stacks Purify and dash-outs, or your team plays spread poke with nobody who focus-fires a host. Take Minotaur and bring a simpler argument. Gloo doesn't start fights. He *moves* them — into your team, on your carry's own legs.

Keep reading

• Mobile Legends: Bang Bang on CoolGameShelf — the game page: player rating and official store links
• MLBB Emblem Guide — the emblem setup behind this guide's build
• More tank guides: Minotaur MLBB Guide, Atlas MLBB Guide, Khufra MLBB Guide